Sherman residents voice concerns on tree preservation

SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) - There is currently no requirement for tree preservation in Sherman’s zoning ordinance.

Wednesday evening, some residents showed up to the City Public Open House to give feedback on possibly pursuing a tree ordinance.

Donna Nesbit has lived in Sherman for 10 years and she said that a tree ordinance is long overdue.

“I think it will help with well, one thing that I noticed was a big concern was the clear cutting. So it will help with that. It will also help save some of our natives and also some of the other trees that are smaller, not just the large trees, but hopefully they’ll take into consideration smaller trees also.”

Nathan Parrott is a landscape architect and zoning consultant. He is trying to develop in Sherman. He said participated in the City of Dallas tree ordinance revamping a few years back.

“There is no penalty for tree mitigation in the city of Sherman, which admittedly does attract a lot of developers” he explained.

He said that Sherman remind shim of his hometown back in Indiana, and that he wants to see it grow in a responsible way.

”With the growth that Sherman is seeing, I think any sophisticated town would take on a tree ordinance purely from a standpoint of protecting themselves from a few outlier developers that might not be respectful.”

Kerri Turner is the planning technician for development services for the City of Sherman. She said the public open house was a result of the public reaching out to city leaders.

“The city council members and the city managers have received a bunch of phone calls about tree preservation, people driving through Sherman, seeing all the development going up next to their properties, and they’re just worried about our tree preservation. So it’s all about just getting an ordinance in place,” Turner explained.

Residents concerns are clear-cutting, habitat and ecology, community character, soil erosion, reduced open space and natural areas, impacts to development costs, increased regulation, and shade.

“After presenting the information, we gathered from the developers and then this information, we can take it to council and maybe see which direction they would like for us to go,” Turner said.

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